The Goats Of Riverside Park Are Baaaack: Here's When To See Them

HARLEM, NY — One of the West Side's beloved neighborhood summer traditions, the Riverside Park goats, will return to the community in July.

The Riverside Park Conservancy will host its second annual Great Goat Graze-Off on Saturday, July 18, where three of its four-legged landscapers will compete to see who can devour the most weeds in a live eating contest.

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Returning champion Mallomar will defend his title against fan favorite Romeo and newcomer Big Buddy during the event, which runs from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on the lawn north of Ten Mile Playground at West 151st Street and the West Side Highway. A rain date is scheduled for July 19.

The competition will once again be hosted by George Shea, the longtime emcee of Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest and chair of Major League Eating.

Beyond the friendly competition, the event marks the return of Riverside Park Conservancy's Goatham Initiative, now in its seventh year. After the festivities, three goats will spend the next 10 weeks grazing on invasive plants along a steep hillside near West 137th Street, clearing poison ivy, mugwort and porcelain berry without the use of pesticides.

"We're so excited to bring back the Great Goat Graze Off for a second year," Riverside Park Conservancy President and CEO Merritt Birnbaum said. "This event is about two things: celebrating sustainability in our Park, but most importantly, bringing joy and whimsy to our community. This is definitely an 'only in New York' moment."

The Conservancy says the goat-powered landscaping program has already helped restore previously overgrown sites near West 119th and West 143rd streets, which have since been replanted with native shrubs and trees.

Visitors to the Graze-Off can also meet all 15 visiting goats before the herd splits up, browse local vendors, enjoy live music, arts and crafts, games and educational activities, and compete in the event's first Goatham Sign Contest, where attendees are encouraged to create homemade goat-themed signs — puns included.

This year's competitors include:

• Mallomar, last year's G.O.A.T. Grazer champion.
• Romeo, returning for his fifth season in Riverside Park after winning fans' MVP vote for two straight years.
• Big Buddy, a first-time competitor from Red Hook selected by volunteers from Jenny's Garden.

The goats are rented each summer from Green Goats, a Rhinebeck nonprofit that provides grazing animals for ecological land management projects.

"At NYC Parks, we're always looking for innovative ways to care for our green spaces, and these goats have certainly earned their place on the team," Parks Commissioner Tricia Shimamura said. "Whether they're competing in the Graze-Off or hard at work clearing invasive plants, they're making our parks healthier while giving New Yorkers a reason to smile."

For questions, email Miranda.Levingston@Patch.com.